El Roi, you are the God who sees me. You meet me at the point of my need. You know my thoughts and fears. Yet I have more value than the sparrows. Thank you for seeing me. Amen.

El Roi, You are the God who sees us. You see our brothers and sisters in Nigeria suffering for the faith. Surround them with angels of protection. Encourage them with Your love today. Let them know that they are seen and loved by You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Our Father in Heaven, we are entering Your gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, for a new day and a new month. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never comes to an end; they are new every morning! We welcome Your holy presence to take absolute control of our worship today. We surrender our ways and our hearts to Your lordship in all areas of our lives. All-knowing God, You alone can search through our hearts, minds, and our households and see the st

Father God, we come today with grateful hearts, declaring your goodness, and blessing your name. We bow down to you in praise and thanksgiving! You hold the whole world in your hands and yet you see and know each one of us by name. You are holy and righteous. You are faithful and merciful. We put our whole trust in You, and surrender all that we are and all that we have to You. Whether we are in the land of plenty or in the desert, we thank you that we can live in your fullne

It was great to worship together in person in better weather and celebrate the Lord’s Table. Today, we learned about the wonderful name El Roi. This name was only used once in scripture (Genesis 16:13). It’s the only name given to God by a human. It was even given to God by an “invisible” person. Hagar was pagan, female, enslaved, and the lowest of society. But God saw her so she gave him the name “El Roi”- the God who sees me. Many people in this world feel unseen. From the

As Christians who love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind, follow Jesus, have a close relationship with Him, trust Him and surrender our lives to Him, praise Him that He is the provider of every good thing, know that we are saved from sin by His shed blood…, it is difficult for us to understand how anyone can live without Jesus in their life. It is especially painful when people have been raised in the faith and then abandoned/turned their back on everything they lear

Adonai, Lord Jesus, we lift up our brothers and sisters in North Korea. We ask that You protect them. Bless those worshipping in secret today. Bless those who are in prison for their faith. Help them to feel the prayers of Your people surrounding them. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

The name Adonai is wonderful. It is the only name of God that requires something from the speaker: Submission. It demonstrates God’s sovereignty over our lives and our world. We can trust in His lordship. When you pray “Dear Lord”, mean it! Make Jesus the Lord and Master of your life. Move beyond the title to submission. Adonai, You are the Lord of my life. Like the clay submitting to the potter, have Your own way with me. You are sovereign over my life. I trust an

For the first time in Austin GMC history, we had a “snow” day. My family and I had to get creative to offer a worship service that would try to offer some normalcy in this bizarre weather. Thank God for technology. We joined from home with thousands of other believers around the world worshipping our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. If you missed service this morning, you can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/austinglobalmethodist Today, we learned about the wonderful na

“Heal our Land” God, we come to you this morning, Melchizedek, King and Priest, seeking your righteousness, peace and holiness to heal our land. We thank you and praise you that you are sovereign, you see us, you are working in the midst of chaos, crises, you hear our prayers and you answer them. 2 Chronicles 7:14 assures us “ If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their si

There are 72 names in the Bible for God. They reveal his character and his capability. The first name used to describe him is “Elohim”. It means the Divine One. In Genesis 1, we see that Elohim was there from before the beginning (Eternal), He is triune (Elohim is plural and means God/God/God), and He is Creator. When we call upon the name of God, understanding who Elohim is, we are calling upon the Eternal, Triune, Creator God. That puts power back onto His name. I challenge

Elohim, help the people of Venezuela. Keep them safe. Bring them peace. Bless those worshipping in Your name today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Most Gracious and Heavenly Father, We are gathered here today to worship You and proclaim, blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens which is the work of His fingers. The moon and stars know their place for He set them there. God, Your name be praised. Father, we thank You for Your goodness, mercy and lov

We continue our sermon series on the Names of God with a strange one: Melchizedek. Not much is known about this mysterious figure that shows up in Genesis and Psalms and is explained in Hebrews. It is not a commonly called upon name of God which is exactly why we should take time to understand it. Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness” in Hebrew. He shows up as both a King and a Priest. Melchizedek is a Christophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of the Messiah. He is witho

Names are so important. I go by a few. Lauren Green Yates is my legal name. Babydoll is the name that my husband has decided to call me. Mom is the name my boys call me. My dad calls me “Jo” (reasons unknown). In the past I have been called Officer Green and Detective Yates. Now, I answer to Pastor Lauren. The way someone calls my name tells me what they think about me and how they hope I will answer. I can’t help but think it is the same way with God. There are 72 names in t

I’ve always enjoyed celebrating the new year and setting goals. I would love to see Austin Global Methodist Church invite the lost to our church and see them come into saving faith of Jesus Christ. I would love to see baptisms, discipleship opportunities, and missions. Of course, I would love to see us in our own location where we can be most useful for the Kingdom of God. But I also have this lofty goal for our church for 2026: that we might know the Lord more deeply. For th

Advent season is coming to a close but don’t take your decorations down just yet. Next Sunday will be Epiphany! Soon the Wise Men will worship the Christ Child and give him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were gifts fit for the King of kings, our Great High Priests, and the Savior of the world. What will you give Jesus? Let’s start with worship. Worship has been the theme of this Advent Season. We’ve been meditating on and memorizing Matthew 2:2, “Where is

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Four- Love December 21- Matthew 1:18-25 This week, we will light the candle of love. There is so much love within the Christmas story. Love from God to us. Love from us to God. Love to one another. Today, I want to foc

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Three- Joy December 14- Luke 2:29-32 This week, we will light the candle of joy. You may have noticed the joy candle is different than the others. Traditionally the other candles of advent are purple, but this one is p

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Two- Peace December 7- Luke 2:8-20 This week, we will light the candle of peace. Peace may feel like an oxymoron at Christmas time. The biblical Christmas story reads anything BUT peaceful: angelic messages, an unwed t